Duplicity
by Keynn
Summary: Chat Noir is sure he's got to be the unluckiest guy in the world, to fall in love with two women who walk the paths on either side of him. - LadyNoir/Adrienette
1. Chapter 1

**Duplicity**

 _LadyNoir/Adrienette_

* * *

It's strange to hear from Ladybug when the city isn't in peril – this is Chat's first reaction to the frantic voicemail on his disposable "mobile chat," one of a pair, held by him and Ladybug, for emergencies. His idea, of course. Ladybug has been fervent about their secrets since high school. She would never give him the number to her real phone, for her real life.

The voicemail is rushed, like she's giddy from nerves or excitement, and it's simple. A time, a date a place. She says _I need to talk to you_ , but doesn't answer when Adrien calls, which puts him on edge. He can't focus during his photoshoot. He can barely think at all.

Lucky for him, Marinette once a friend, now his personal stylist, usually attentive and alert (if not a bit scatterbrained) is also in an odd state, and between the two of them all out of sorts, the shoot gets cut short due to lack of forward momentum.

"I'm sorry," says Marinette, afterward, ever polite. She's kind but distant. Adrien can't blame her, he is also partly responsible. Besides, Marinette has been a little out of it since the day she turned him down.

That had surprised him, too, since Alya had been adamant that Marinette had had a crush on him since they were in school. He'd always had a kind of crush on her, too, a backburner interest around his attentions towards Ladybug.

He'd thought they'd be good together, he and Marinette. She'd been kind to him as Adrien, and a friend to him as Chat…

"Me, too," he says, pushing away the memories.

* * *

The night of the meeting, Chat Noir stands on the rooftops of Paris, staring at a water fixture below. There is no wind, no sound. At two in the morning no one is awake who wants to be seen. In the dead quiet, Ladybug lands like a rock and he pivots to her. He thinks, like he has always thought, that she is beautiful, and Chat knows that he's got to be the unluckiest sucker on the planet. To fall in love with two women who both take the paths to either side of him.

Ladybug is shorter than him, but she looks at him like they're on even ground, and they're equal so he could ask for nothing less.

"Chat," she says, her voice smooth, her eyes soft, her hair, cut short now, blows up and settles.

When they had first met, full of teenaged excitement and fear, she'd dominated, still. Grown now, it's like they're frozen in time, she hasn't changed, and he loves her just the same. He wants to say something, might have, but she looks like she's fighting herself and he doesn't want to break the trance between them.

"I need you to listen to me," she says.

Chat opens his mouth to speak but she stops him.

"Just this once," she says, "all the way through." He can't deny her, the stern shoulders; her eyes are fierce now, set with determination. He never wants to be anywhere else, but he's scared. What if she doesn't want to work with him? What if she's dropping out of the superhero game? What if, he thinks…

"Okay," he tells her, "I'm all ears," and she breathes deep.

"I could be two people," Ladybug says, "meet two boys who grow up to be two men, walk two paths for two causes I believe in," she stops and looks at him hard, "forward in the direction of my dreams, forward, as Ladybug." Chat holds his breath. "I could die twice in both lives, right now, and never regret a single moment," she says; his breath hitches in his throat.

"I'd never let that happen," says Adrien, firm.

"Shh, kitty," smiles Ladybug, "I could live two lives. The same two lives - I could," she stops, suddenly, looks away from him, "I can live two lives," she says, "and in the end I can only go at night to one home. And in the end," she says, "I can fall in love with two people, and each time, in every life, chose the same one."

Not knowing what to do, feeling half way like he'll embarrass himself for even having the hope, but needing to be sure - he needs to be sure - he points at himself, confused, cautiously optimistic. She can break him, she knows this, but she is kind and she wouldn't hurt him like that … Would she?

When Ladybug smiles, the entire world lights up and Chat feels the radiated warmth in every inch of him, the surest confirmation he's ever received in his life.

"I'm not Ladybug," she says, "it's just a mask – and I know you're not just Chat Noir."

"I'm more Chat Noir than anything else," says Adrien.

"I want to tell you who I am … If I tell you my identity, there's a very real chance you'll be disappointed," says Ladybug, "but I think I want you to know now."

"You? Disappoint me? Im-paw-sible," says Chat, echoes Adrien, nervous without knowing why. He vaguely registers that he's shaking, but Ladybug isn't. She brings her hands to her earrings, undoes one. Chat's anxious but she deserves to say no, so he drops the joking facade, stares into her, whispers: "you don't have to do this."

Ladybug smiles. "I know," she says, and removes the other.

The red suit, spots and all, dissolve at the heels, work up until even the mask is gone.  
Adrien is surprised to find that he is not surprised at all when Marinette stands before him.

He laughs so hard he might cry at the sheer irony of it all. It's so unfair. It's all so unfair. Before Marinette has the chance to misinterpret, before she has the chance to do much of anything at all, Adrien pulls off his ring.

Black he thinks: dim light, dim chance. He's so unlucky it hurts.

"I think," says Adrien, when the ears are all but a shadow, when he feels exposed and miserable, "that in this case, I'm the disappointing one."

* * *

 _Please feel free to comment, critique, etc.! There's a second chapter to this which I will post either tomorrow or Wednesday, so also keep an eye out for that. :)_

 _Cross posted on tumblr and at AO3_.


	2. Chapter 2

**Duplicity**

 _LadyNoir/Adrienette_

* * *

When Adrien had asked her out, all those weeks ago, Marinette had felt indescribably confused. No sooner had she come to the conclusion that she had fallen in love with her best friend that the world had decided to test her conviction. It had been …

It had been really hard to reject him.

She'd thought about it for days, wavering between feeling stupid, feeling okay, feeling like she'd lost something, mostly feeling like it didn't matter. There had never been any indication that Adrien would see her in that kind of light. It had been so simple to say she loved Chat, harder to say she loved Chat more than she could ever love Adrien.

The truth was, Marinette had not fallen out of love with Adrien; having worked with him so frequently. She'd come to really treasure their escapades – ducking out on photoshoots to grab food from her parents, impromptu visits to all the Parisian attractions Parisians never seemed to visit. (The photo on her desk at work, of she and he at the Louvre, bunny ears behind each other's heads…)

It's just that she'd fallen equally in love with Chat Noir, maybe more since he knew her every expression, could tell when she was scared, or sad, had risked his life for hers. Marinette would sacrifice herself a dozen times or more to talk to Chat even for just one more day. That was the real difference, Marinette figured; she'd probably do the same for Adrien, but it was just a hypothetical. She knew, with complete certainty, that if Chat asked or needed anything of her, there would be no why, no thinking, no weighing options. That was her relationship with him: dynamic and unshakable.

When Chat is Adrien … or when Adrien is Chat (it's hard to think about; it's so ridiculously simple) Marinette is laughing so hard she has to put her head in her hands. Or maybe she's crying. Or maybe it's both. She never imagined she could feel so happy, for something as stupid as falling for the same person … twice, in two completely different ways for way, way too long.

"Marinette?" says Chat, unsure. (Says Adrien, unsure.) His hand is reached out for her, like he wants to touch her, but he stop short of putting it on her shoulder, so it hovers between them.

Marinette knows she's shaking, but she's not quite ready to lift her head, not quite sure she can look at him, not feel giddy, not feel nervous, not be completely embarrassing.

"Are you disappointed?" he finally asks, letting his hand fall. He sounds defeated. For a moment Marinette says nothing; when she lifts her head she can see the turmoil playing in his eyes, he looks so unsure. It occurs to her that Adrien can't possibly understand what she's thinking, can't know how hard it had been to reject him that day, can't know how much she loves Chat – how much she loves him – under every mask, from all angles.

"The furthest I could possibly be from it," Marinette laughs, surprising him. "can I kiss you?"

Adrien, not trusting himself to speak, a little surprised, nods. Marinette takes two steps, pulls him down to her, and Adrien feels like he can breathe again. All of his worries feel arbitrary when Marinette kisses him, giggling into his lips; laughing into hers.

...

..

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* * *

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..

...

"Oh my god," Marinette mutters, bolting out of a dead sleep, four months later, jostling Adrien awake next to her.

"What?" he mutters, instinctively reaching for his ring, his hair is sticking up at odd angles, a cow lick in the back, and he is clearly out of it. Marinette whirls on him, staring with wild eyes.

"Chat Noir saw my room in high school…" she trails, horror stricken, remembering all 32 photos and posters of Adrien Agreste which had been strewn across her walls at the time, all those years ago, when Chat Noir had crashed through her window and promptly given her a very, very confused head tilt. Thirty-two, she thinks.

Adrien blinks slowly, seeming to think, and then a devilish grin splits across his face.

"Good night, Marinette," he purrs, turns over, goes back to sleep.

* * *

 _Original AN posted on AO3:_

 _There were quite a few commenters who expressed a certain amount of displeasure at where this fic left off. To quell the feeling of dissatisfaction, I've written a small something something to tie up this story in a little bow._

 _It's probably not as well written as the first chapter, and certainly shorter, but I hope it's satisfying._

 _(And seriously, to everyone who commented: you were all so, so kind. I will eventually respond to everyone; but in the mean time this chapter is for you. Without you, it wouldn't even exist. Thank you!)_

 _And an additional note to FF . net_

 _I'll respond to the reviews here, too, because they were all so nice! But in the meantime. You were right about the laughing. ^^; I'm in cliche hell._


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